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Private Sector | Maharashtra - India | PID: 203238
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MUMBAI: A consortium of Bothra Shipping Services Pvt Ltd and Ripley & Co. Stevedoring & Handling Pvt Ltd is set win the rights to mechanise and run a 5 million tonne (mt) capacity dry bulk cargo berth at Haldia Dock Complex of state-owned Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority by placing the highest royalty of Rs74.06 a ton, officials said.
The auction result boosts the strategy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority to privatise operational cargo berths through the public-private- partnership (PPP) route at one of India’s oldest state-owned ports, which until recently was lagging its compatriots in their bid to become landlord ports.
Under the landlord model followed globally, the publicly governed port authority acts as a regulatory body and as landlord, while private firms carry out port operations, mainly cargo handling activities. The landlord port, in return, gets a share of the revenue from the private entity.
The privatisation of state-run cargo berths has become necessary after the major ports transitioned into ‘authorities’ under a new law passed by Parliament - the Major Port Authorities Act – whereby the 11 major ports will play the role of a landlord.
The privatisation plan is also in line with the government’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), wherein operational infrastructure assets including port terminals will be privatised through the PPP mode.
The share of cargo handled by private operators at SPM Port Authority is negligible.
SPM Port Authority has only two private cargo handling facilities, one run by Singapore’s PSA International Pte Ltd and another by TM International Logistics Ltd, a joint venture between Tata Steel Ltd, IQ Martrade (Germany) and NYK Holding (Europe) BV. The clean bulk and break-bulk cargo handling facility run by TMIL from Berth No 12 at Haldia Dock Complex is one of the oldest PPP projects at state-owned ports.
“In the next five years, our target is to have 80 percent of the port’s overall cargo coming from private operators,” said an official. This strategy is playing out well with the port authority awarding or set to award 30-year concessions for mechanising and operating cargo handling facilities worth as much as Rs2,700 crores.
These include mechanising Berth No 2 at Haldia Dock Complex with an investment of Rs298.26 crore for handling 3.744 million tons (mt) of dry bulk cargo that was awarded to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ).
APSEZ also won a five-year operation and maintenance (O&M) contract to handle containers from five berths at Netaji Subhas Dock with a capacity to handle some 7 lakh twenty foot equivalent units or TEU’s, entailing an investment of Rs569.85 crores.
Century Plyboards (India) Ltd was awarded a contract to develop and operate the western side berths of Khidderpore Dock (KPD) for handling containers and other cargo.
Phase 1 of the project will have a capacity to handle 1.65 lakh TEUs and 3 lakh tonnes of pulses involving an investment of Rs95.66 crore, while Phase 2 will add 1.65 lakh TEUs and 3.5 lakh tonnes of fertiliser/limestone handling capacity with an investment of Rs86.15 crore.
The SPM Port Authority is also processing bids for privatising NSD berths 7 and 8 along with back-up area of 25 acres having a capacity to handle some 5 lakh TEUs.
“All the PPP tenders have received or are getting huge response from private operators,” the official said.
The consortium of Bothra Shipping Services Pvt Ltd and Ripley & Co. Stevedoring & Handling Pvt Ltd will invest Rs348 crores to install mechanized system at Berth No 5 of Haldia Dock Complex for unloading dry bulk cargo from ships through rail mounted mobile harbour crane (1,000 tons per hour), moving the cargo through conveyor system (2,000 tons per hour) in the storage area, stacking and reclaiming at the yard/storage area by stacker cum reclaimer (2,000/2,000 tons per hour) and evacuation of cargo from yard/storage area to wagon by rail through mechanized silo based rapid wagon loading system (2,000 tons per hour rated capacity) and/ or through road along with all other facilities and services.
The project seeks to enhance the dry bulk cargo capacity of Haldia Dock Complex by handling dry commodities including coal and limestone, the official added.
| Updated on: 06 - Aug - 2024
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